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Muv-Luv Alternative Faraway Dawn Guide/Tips
Basic tips for the two Muv-Luv Alternative strategy games included in Altered Fable and Haruko Maniax. Gameplay Basics Icon Explanation Each icon on the map represents one group of units. Each player group is composed of 12 individual units. These can be tanks, armored vehicles, or TSFs. As BETA are cheating bastards, they cram much more units into each group, and deploy many many more groups than the player. The number of units in BETA groups are determined by the difficulty level you are playing on. The icon represents what type of unit the group is composed of. Unlike the BETA, the player cannot stack or consolidate groups. The small number on the top left denotes how many units are left in a group. The small number on the upper right indicates how many action points the group still has. The large number or characters in the center denote what weapon is currently equipped. For TSFs, a 36 denotes that the group currently has their 36mm Chaingun equipped a 120 shows that they're currently equipped with the 120mm cannons, ナイフ indicates that the group is equipped with the Type-65 Knives, and 長刀 denotes that they're equipped with the Type-74 CIWS Sword. For the Type-90 MBTs, 120 indicates that the tank's main cannon is equipped, and 12.7 indicates the nigh useless 12.7mm machine guns. The Type-87 SPAAGs only have one weapon, the 35mm anti-aircraft gun. The blue bar indicates how much of the absolutely vital Anti-Laser Coating remains for the group, and the arrow denotes the group facing. Supply Container Types This should be fairly obvious. You can resupply while on, or around the hex the container is on. Resupplying (if possible) at the end of each stage in Campaign Mode is vital, since ammunition and fuel carry over to the next stage. Movement There are three types of movement for TSFs: walking/running on the ground, boost jumping, and flight. AP is the only limitation on a unit's movement range. However, AP costs for TSF movement also includes the costs for turning, making long-distance travel on the ground prohibitive. Armored vehicles can only travel on the ground, but are capable of performing lateral movement cheaper than TSFs are. This is because armored vehicles don't need to turn to move to the sides or rear. For these units, movement of one hex costs a flat 3 AP, regardless of direction. Boost Jump TSFs can only boost jump towards directions determined by their facing. There are six types of boost jump, which are unlocked as a unit levels up. Flight Flight costs 15 AP to activate and costs fuel, but reduces AP cost for turning and movement to trivial amounts. Turning 60 degrees while flying only costs 1 AP, while forward movement of three hexes also costs 1 AP. A TSF unit can move across most maps in a single turn while flying. It also allows TSFs to avoid any attack from most BETA. However, flying TSFs are vulnerable to attack from Laser-class BETA. Some scenarios feature off-map Laser-class BETA, which prevent flight (but not boost jumping). Landing (if not forced by Laser-class fire) costs 4 AP. Units Type-77 Gekishin First generation TSF, this venerable machine is still widely used, even though her design is nearly 30 years old. In the first part of the game, she is your mainstray TSF in campaign, in second part you will have only 3 of them. Very heavily armored, which is a mixed blessing. On low ranked pilots armor can save your life, giving them the defence boost they desperately need to stay alive when forced into close quarters combat. High ranked pilots, on the other hand, have great evade bonuses and have little need for high amounts of armor, and high turn costs with low action points significantly lower their combat capabilites. Still, she's a usefull addition to your forces. Try to level her pilots to A rank as soon as possible, it's fairly easy and will serve you good. Better units will naturally have more experience per mission so you can forget about intentionally leveling them, and it's very likely for a squad of humble Gekishins with good pilots to save a better unit in a pinch. While very high ranked pilots can safely fight anything in CQC, they don't have enough action points to kill their enemy and push forward, most likely they will be pushed back by BETA due to Tank class. 36mm chaingun is a good weapon, reliable against everything short of Magnus Lux, Fort, and Destroyer front armour. 120mm cannon can kill them, but far less effective, nearly useles against soft BETA(Tank and Lux). Swords are effective close combat weapon, capable of destroying everything. It's bad idea to use them agains soft targets. Usually your best choice when fighting in CQC, 120mm has too little ammo to be worth using against not-Magnus Lux enemies. Knives are you last resort weapon. They deal very little damage and break very fast, though they are more effective against soft targets then 120mm and sword. Everything said above applies to all TSF weapons. Type-89 Kagerou Second generation TSF, and she is quite possibly the best second generation TSF in the whole world. She's far from being as tough as Gekishin, and her mobility, while better then Gekishin's, is not that great. But she turns for less action points and has more of them. She's good, but not great. Again, level her pilots to A rank if you have spare BETA and forget about them, they will do their job and do it damn well. High ranked pilots can safely lock BETA in CQC and stop their advance, giving you the time you need to flank enemies, ressuply, or make a better formation. Type-94 Shiranui The first third generation TSF, she is beautiful and very deadly. Has a weird nickname because of the bunny ears on the head unit. Your mainstray TSF in the second part of the game. Great mobility, a lot of action points, turns for less action points then the Kagerou. She has everything you would expect from a 3rd gen TSF. You can forget about intentionally leveling them, they will naturally level very fast because of their high action points amount. Good ranked pilots can easily lock BETA in CQC and have enough action points to push forward through enemy ranks. Type-97 Fubuki Third generation TSF despite it's poor perfomance. Actually a trainie TSF. A combination of moderate mobility, low action points, low turn cost, and low fuel. You will get them in complete set with trainies instead of actual pilots, so don't be dicouraged by their poor perfomance, it's all because of pilots. They are the unit you should level as soon as possible, they can't do anything and will be dead weight otherwise. There are units that you can chose level or not to level to complete the game. You don't have that choise with Fubuki, you will need them high ranked to complete it. Type-00 Takemikazuchi A third generation TSF made specifically for Royal Guard, the highest perfomance japanese TSF. Exeptionally good amount of action points and mobility, combined with extremly low turn cost, she is a work of art. There is nothing capable of stopping high ranked pilots using her, not even Lux classes, she will smite and cleave, cleave and smite all the way to them with ease. Free play only, first unit unlocks after you have completed the game on Normal and second unlocks after Hell. Type-90 Main Battle Tank You will have a lot of them in both parts of the game, it is your bread with TSFs as the butter. Despite looking bad overall, it's 120mm cannon have huge range and huge damage. Use it to your advantage. Shelling down Magnus Lux is trivial task with it. 12.7mm machine gun is good at kiling hordes of Tank and Lux class. Extremly vulnerable in CQC. High ranked MBTs is a key to victory in many situations, and ignoring them is unwise, level them as soon as possible, to the highest level possible. Type-87 Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun Nicknamed "Guntank". You will have a lot of them too. Their main advantage is their low height and big range of their 35mm autocannon. Very usefull unit, and if high enough ranked, very deadly. Use it's weapon range to it's limit. High ranked SPAAG can easily hold a passage 4 hexes wide 6 hexes long clean, killing all but Fort and Destroyer class easily. 900 ammo is very low, and you will likely run out of ammo in one mission. Ressuply whenever possible. *Note that it is not actual height, it's the number game uses for calculation. Actual TSF, MBT, and SPAAG height can be looked up in various supplement materials. Attacking Group Facing and Firing Arc Group facing determines firing/attack arc and effectiveness, as well as the direction of certain jumps. Weapons have different ranges. The 36mm Chaingun has four hexes of range, while the 120mm cannon can reach targets eight hexes away, as shown above. Melee weapons such as knives and swords can only damage enemies adjacent to the unit. Meanwhile, the Type-87's 35mm anti-aircraft gun has seven hexes of range, while a Type-90 tank's 120mm main gun can hit targets 13 hexes away. The tank's 12.7mm machine gun is effective up to four hexes away. Attack Effectiveness An attack's potential damage is indicated by the symbol over the BETA group. No symbol means the attack will not hit, a triangle means the attack would have very low effectiveness, and a circle shows that the attack would be effective against its target. The more circles there are, the clearer shot you have, and thus can deal more damage with fewer shots/swings. Targets that can be shot are is determined by unit heights, so buildings and debris can provide cover to both you and the BETA. BETA will actively destroy cover. While playing it safe and hiding behind covers on lower levels of difficulty is a fair choise of strategy, on higher levels most BETA will one-shot any cover, so you're left with very few options. One thing to note is that TSFs are taller than tanks and APCs so they can't be fired over by the latter. In the worst case, they can be used to shield the latter. Hovering the mouse cursor above a valid target will reveal a radial menu indicating the number of attacks that can be made on the enemy. The numbers directly correspond to the amount of ammunition that would be fired (for firearms) or the number of swings/uses (for melee weapons). The option at the center of the menu is the command to attack the enemy until it is destroyed, or the unit runs out of AP. This is the ideal choice if the player seeks to conserve ammuntion against weakened targets: only the necessary amount of shots will be fired, reducing the potential for wastage. When spending a lot of AP on one attack(i.e. 4 meele attacks, 250 shots fired) you will have bonus accuracy and damage, up to 8 attacks. Overall Weapon Info *Despite low numbers, swords and knives are effective against heavy armoured targets. For ease of understanding, calculate swords as ignoring all armor and knives as ignoring anything up to Fort-class armor. Menu Explanations Unit Status Block The "AA" space on the top right denotes the group level, with the bar undeneath it determining experience. The 12/12 indicates current and total possible units in the group. The 27/27 denotes current and max Action Points. Your AP will recover by it's max at the start of all of your phases, and increases with different TSFs and levels. The number that is in the space of the 230/230 determines how much fuel is left for Boost Jumping and/or flying. The blue bar once again denotes Anti-Laser Coating. The numbers in the lefthand column indicate how much ammo/uses is left in a particular weapon, while the right hand column indicates how many spare magazines you have left, and thus how many times you can reload left. As your group unit increases the group gains special bonuses and new Boost Jump types. The white-bordered box below shows information about the hex the unit is currently standing on. The left-hand column shows the terrain type and its additional movement cost. The right-hand column indicates the terrain's bonus to evasion and defense. Terrain information for unoccupied hexes ca also be seen by hovering the mouse cursor over the desired area. If a hex has an obstruction, then only the type and height of the obstruction will be displayed. Terrain effects *When iniciating jump/flight You can't shoot targets in water. You can't enter water hexes with your units. Unit Menu Right clicking on of your units will bring up this menu, or a variant thereof. The first two menu items are Move and Attack respectively, but there are much better done simply left clicking on the unit and selecting where you want to move and want to what to attack. The next menu item is very important, it allows you to change what weapon that group is currently equipped with. The numbers displayed in the drop down list are the respective AP cost to do so. The next menu item is Jump. The first is the standard boost jump and how many AP it costs to do is displayed by the square you are jumping to. The next is Jump & Attack. Space Movement cost is displayed on a given space, and enemies that can be attacked during your Jump will be highlighted after you select a space to Jump to.. The next is Back Jump, your unit jumps backward. The next is Boost Hop that moves forward at the cost of 4 AP and some fuel, generally your unit have the lowest chance to be scorchaed by Laser class when perfoming this maneuver. Nest is is Jump and Turn Around, very usefull against Destroyer class. And the last one is Boost Hop & Attack. The next menu item is Flight. You can move for very little AP, can't be attacked by non-Lux, can move over any BETA units or obstacles in your way, but burns huge amount of fuel and Lux will instantly rape you to death if present and capable of firing. The next menu item is Turn 60 Degrees Counter Clockwise. The next is Turn 60 degrees Clockwise. Both take 4 AP. And the last option is backstep one space at the cost of 6 AP. There is no such option in menu is first game, but by pressing B button you will have the same effect. The above is a picture of what is displayed when you left click upon one of your units. The numbers displayed are how much AP it will cost to move to that space without turning. BETA with shapes over them are groups that can be attacked. Unit Level Leveling units is extremly important. The higher the level, the better the unit will fare, dealing more damage, having better accuracy, having more action points, and in case of TSF pilots, turning for less action points, having better chace at surviving both Lux attacks and close combat with Grapplers/Destroyers. Lowest rank is F''', hughest rank is SSS'. Unit's potential, like cost to level it up, grows exponentially. Different BETA strains give different amount of EXP points for killing them. Tank-class yield the least, followed by Luxm, Grapplers and Destroyers, then Magnus Lux, and the biggest amount of EXP points naturally yield Fortress-class. '''Level bonuses.' *EXP needed to level up is cumulative, so to level from F to C you will need 70 EXP points (0 for F +10 for E + 20 for D + 40 for C), not just 40 EXP points. Combat With the BETA Approach most strains of BETA by exploiting their behavioral weakness as presented in the game, and use the appropriate weapon/s to defeat them. Lux/Magnus Lux (Magnus) Lux won't fire through other BETA, and can only fire so many times per phase. Lux firing range can also be seen by clicking on one, and is denoted by the arc. Flanking is sort of possible. The blue bar beneath them shows how many times they can fire, and how soon they can fire again. For Lux this is 1 shot per group per phase. For Magnus Lux, this is 1 shot per group per turn. Phase being Player Phase > BETA Phase > Player Phase etc.. With turn being One Player Phase and One BETA Phase. Anti-Laser Coating, like units, absolutely can not be recovered from the third stage on. And it is absolutely vital to the survival of your groups as if you can't accurately predict where a Lux can fire upon, this is the only leeway you have before your groups get nearly annhilated from just one attack. Though, this only applies to Campaign Mode. The longer your unit is in firing range, and the closer it to Lux, the more Anti-Laser Coating Lux will burn. RNG determines how many units you will lose if you stay too long in the Lux's firing range, so use save/load for best results. ' ' And among one of the most important things is to learn how and when you can boost jump while Lux are present. This can't really be explained and can only really be figured out through trial and error, but some tips are look where a Lux's firing arc is. If there's anything one space ahead of it that's taller than it, you can almost freely jump within its firing arc. Of course, you can also jump so long as you're not in a firing arc. Though, Magnus Lux are much taller than most other BETA, debris and buildings, and thus are harder to stop. Refer to the image to the right. 36mm chain guns, 35mm autocannon and 12,7 machine gun are most effective against the Lux. However, the Magnus Lux are much heavier armored, and 120mm Cannons and Type-74 Swords are just about the only thing capable of bringing them down. High enough(AA and above) ranked units can kill Magnus Lux with 35mm autocannons and 36mm chain guns, due to damage bonus they gain with leveling rank. Remember that it takes AP to turn and attack for BETA too. (Magnus)Lux-class will usually turn in TSF direction when it boost jumps even when there is not enough AP to fire left, and terrain penalities(or Magnus Lux destroying cover, it really loves to destroy cover) can severly tone down the danger that Lux-classes present. Also, they will attack TSFs entering their arc of fire on player's phase, but not SPAAGs/MBTs, so you can safely move them into their arc of fire. On BETA phase, they will fire at them, so be carefull. Destroyer-class Destroyer-class BETA obviously has very low movement cost and very high turning cost. It's attack is very strong ramming attack, and it does not need to move to use it. The best tactic is to sidestep their charge, as they can't really turn and attack after moving. They are the first BETA strain which attacks can be easily dodged by good ranked pilots in TSF, so few TSF units holding the line while other units engage more dangerous targets is good and proved tactic. Terrain penalities may make it especially easy to evade direct contact with them. They are easiest to defeat with 120mm cannons and swords from the front. High-level units can kill Destroyers with knifes, but at high AP cost. However, Destroyers are very vulnerable from the rear. If attacked from the back, TSFs' 36mm guns, the Type-87's 35mm autocannon and even Type-90's 12,7mm machine gun can easily take down Destroyers. As such, flanking or boost jump maneuvers (as long as there are no Laser-classes) can prove extremly effective effective against them. On higher level of difficulty that's the only way to defeat them without concetrating Type-90 Battle Tank 120mm cannon fire or spending a lot of action points constantly reloading TSF's 120mm cannon. Those Little Red Fuckers (Tank-class) The Tank-class are the most numerous BETA on the battlefield, their number is few magnitudes greater then number of Destroyers/Grapples you will face. They have average turn and move action points cost. It's attack is grabbing onto your units and literaly eating them. They can't attack the unit they grabbed onto the turn they grabbed and it takes 5 action points to grab onto your unit, so they can be easily avoided if you have place to move away. More often then not you wil never have a place to move away from them, mainly due to unit in question holding the BETA advance in close quarter combat. You can't dodge their grabbing attack, you can't dodge their eating attack, and you can't dodge, move, or turn when grabbed onto. The only way to free your unit is too kill all Tank class. Because of this they are extremly dangerous if not dealt with immediatly. Technically, all weapon types will work on them. The 36mm, 35mm and 12,7mm guns are the ideal weapons to use. Don't bother with 120mm cannons and swords/knifes, they can only kill a very few Tanks per round fired/swing, it's much more effecient to kill them with rapid fire weapons. Once grabbed onto your units, you can't attack Tanks without doing some damage to your own units. It applies only to low ranked units, a AA+ ranked TSF unit can easily mow them down without damaging your own units with 36mm, by having perfect aim(three yellow circles) and attacking only with 50 rounds attack, anything above will damage your units too. Grappler-Class They have fairly average movement, a low turn cost, and melee attack. The second BETA stain which attacks can be dodged by good ranked TSF unit. The "easiest" BETA to kill. Though don't underestimate them, in large packs they can move fast and destroy your MBTs, SPAAGs, and even TSFs if left unchecked. 36mm Chain Guns, 35mm Machine Guns, 120mm Cannons, Type-74 Swords prove most effective.The only thing that can't damage them is MBT's 12,7mm machine gun. Use whatever suits your tastes more. Fort-class Can't even be cratched by anything short of 120mm cannons and swords. They have a low movement cost, a high turn cost, and an extremly powerful attack along with a high amount of action points. In small groups(1-5) they prove little challenge, but they are extremly, and I really mean it, extremly dangerous and very hard to kill large packs. The third BETA strain which attacks can be dodged. You will not face a lot of them though. Overall BETA unit info **Can only attack once per phase ***Can only attack once per game turn Be noted that terrain effects may change those numbers. General Tips *Start on Very Easy difficulty rather than anything else. This will allow you to get the basics down, while still being challenging. Don't let the Very Easy fool you, though, it's still very very possible to lose. *'SAVE OFTEN'. 'At the beginning, middle, and end of each of your phase at the very least, as well as before any risky moves you make. *'PRESSING Z WILL ALLOW YOU TO UNDO ANY MOVES ASIDE FROM ATTACKING OR RESULTED IN YOU BEING ATTACKED SUCH AS JUMPING/FLYING WHEN LUX ARE PRESENT. *As the number of units in a group declines, it's effectiveness in battle decreases greatly. If a high ranking/level group loses more than than a third of its initial units, you should probably reload. *Turning is absolutely essential to positioning and moving efficiently. *Be careful as smaller strains such as Lux and those little red fuckers can merge into groups with large BETA strains. The larger strains must be killed before you can damage the group of the smaller strain. With lesser Lux it is actually benefical, as they can't zap anything when merged. *On maps with Fuel and Ammo Containers, make sure you reload your units at least once, and if you can, make sure to leave one relatively harmless enemy left, and have all of your units reload and all of your TSFs refuel, before clearing the stage. Also, using a container will completely fill up the ammo in a gun. Though, resupplying and refueling tend to take most if not all of your AP, potentially leaving you at a negative number. The BETA can and will destroy the supply containers, so be cautious of that. Again, this only applies to Campaign Mode. *The game uses RNG, not flat %, so it's possible to save/load repeteadly for much more benefical results with nearly any action. *Boost Hop usually(but not always) results in less damage from Lux then usual Boost Jump and costs only 4 AP. With some maneuvering you can sap Lux action points with very little damage to unit perfoming this maneuver, freeing map from Lux interception fire. This video http://nicoviewer.net/sm13938184 shows perfect execution of said tactic. *Given the choice, BETA will always attack TSFs over MBTs/SPAAGs. For example, if there is Grappler next to your Shiranui unit and MBT unit, Grappler will always attack Shiranui and will completly ignore MBT unit. *Also, BETA will always try to move to and attack the nearest player unit unless their objective is something else(4th FA1 mission, for example). Sending one unit to be a bait is a valid choice. *Try not to rely on TSF's 120mm cannon on anything above Hard. As number of BETA increases, it's effectivenes drops due to very limited ammo. Use swords when you fight in close quarters and save 120mm for Magnus Lux. *Don't disregard Battle Tanks and SPAAGs, they are very effective if their rank is high(A+) enough. One S ranked SPAAG unit can easily mow down at least 150 Grapplers and one S ranked MBT can kill up to 50 Destroyers targeting their front armour per one player phase. *While Very Hard and onwards can scare you with sheer amount of BETA there is, don't be afraid. While first few missions would be challenging at best, you can rank up your units much faster then on very easy, and with A rank and onwards effectiveness of the unit grows exponentially. *TSF units, with sufficient rank(generally A+) can hold the line surprisingly well. You can hold it for as much as you want with little to no losses even, unless mission objective is to win in under fixed amout of turns. While TSF units hold the tide at bay, Lux will move closer to your units and merge with BETA horde your units hold, making it extremly easy to dispatch them with well timed Boost Jump&Turn 180 maneuver or flanking SPAAGs and MBTs. *Red little fuckers will be you main problem when executing above strategy, you can't dodge with Tanks grabbed onto your unit, making it extremly easy for the said unit to be wrecked by Destroyers and Grapplers. Lux and Magnus lux will not fire upon unit with red fuckers in it though, so sometimes they can "save" your unit in a pinch. *Do not forget about terrain bonuses. Terrain that applies penalities to movement also applies penalities to turn, making turning cost for Gekishin a whooping 6 AP. This works both ways, BETA suffer from the same penalities too, Destroyers in the same terrain will have a turning cost of 10 AP. Using terrain to your advantage will make the game much more easier. Category:Guide Category:Altered Fable Category:Haruko Maniax Category:Faraway Dawn